WWW Back in Business
by MrsFredWeasley21
Summary: An alternate ending to Deathly Hallows "I'm actually not a customer." He had to turn then, the voice was too different, an accent he had never heard before. "Well then what can I help you with?" He asked, staring at the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

It was 4 weeks after the War. Diagon Alley was finally starting to rebuild. Shops up and down the lane had started to show signs of life again. They could finally re-open without fear of he-who-must-not-be-named or his Death Eaters coming in and tearing everything apart again. And it was a wondrous feeling indeed.

Mr. Ollivander was finally back, from the Weasley's beach cottage safe house, where he was hidden for the reminder of the war. He was happy to finally be back at his shop and he was certainly ready to start making wands for the newest batch of students who would be boarding the Hogwarts Express in September. It was the beginning of June, and finally the sun seemed to be shining brightly.

The only shop that seemed still out of sorts was Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Which was absolute rubbish. But Fred Weasley was no longer in the mood for such jokes, he had had a lot on his mind after the war, and quite frankly didn't even realize why he was still here. He should have died in that war, he knew that, he wasn't as thick as everyone assumed that he was. That wall that fell on him should have killed him, but for some reason he had been spared, and he couldn't bloody figure out why.

George Weasley, was worried about his brother. He had never seen him this quiet before. Fred, was the life of the party, he was the loud and boisterous one, he came up with the jokes and the pranks and George was simply there to help execute them. Seeing his twin this way was wrong but he didn't know what to do about it.

"Hey Freddie, I was thinking, we might want to start working on some new products for the re-opening in a few weeks." George said, as he glanced at his twin, the worry evident in his face as he spoke.

"Oh…" Fred sighed, "yeah I suppose we can start working on some new things soon."

George knew that if Fred didn't want to do this anymore there was no way the shop would succeed. Fred was the idea man but he was also the business man. He knew about profits and losses and increasing revenues and setting product price points.

The next day, June 4th, was a day Fred wouldn't soon forget. He was standing behind the register at the shop making a list of everything they had left in the front of the shop, while George was taking inventory in the back room. He heard the door chime, that it had been opened.

"I'm sorry, but we haven't re-opened yet." He called over his shoulder.

"I'm actually not a customer." He had to turn then, the voice was too different, an accent he had never heard before.

"Well then what can I help you with?" He asked, staring at the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen.

"My name is Emily Tyson and I'm here to talk to Fred and George Weasley," She stated matter of factly as she stuck out her hand for Fred to shake.

"Hey Forge! I think you better get out here," Fred shouted, not able to take his eyes off of the witch standing in front of him.

That night, gathered around the dinner table at the Burrow, Fred looked at his family. There was little Ginny, who did not look so little anymore, with Harry Potter's arm settled on the back of her chair. Then ickles wittle Ronnie, with Hermione next to him, laughing at one of his lame jokes. Bill and Fleur were next to them, talking to Charlie, who was taking a week off to spend some time with his family, about the newest breed of dragon that had been discovered in France. Then George and Alicia, during the war, they had decided they wanted to see where it would go. Then there was his Mum and Dad, Molly and Arthur, who were staring at him. He reckoned it was because he had been noticeably silent throughout dinner, thus far. But as it was, Percy, the newly appointed senior assistant to the Minister of Magic was the first to speak to him.

"Fred, has your consultant from the International Wizarding Counsel been by to see you yet? I heard that they would be stopping by all the shops between today and tomorrow and I wasn't sure when yours would be coming." Percy inquired looking at his younger brother.

"Why would someone from the IWC be coming to see you two? Surely you can't be in any trouble." Molly stated, giving her mothering glare at the twins. "I always knew that these pranks you were pulling would get you both into real trouble, didn't I Arthur?" She looked at her husband then looking for his agreement.

"Mum" Percy spoke up, "The IWC is sending consultants to all the businesses in Diagon Alley to help them re-build and re-open as soon as possible, hopefully before the middle of August, so Hogwarts students can get their supplies." He told Molly, then looked at the twins again, "I heard WWW was the only shop, that would be getting a consultant that didn't have any other businesses to help. So who is it, then?" He probed the twins glancing back and forth between them.

"Her name is Emma or something, she came in today." George told him, turning his attention back to Alicia.

"It's Emily, Emily Tyson," Fred answered Percy.

"You can't be serious, Emily Tyson? Emily Tyson is here in London?!" Hermione practically screeched. "This is going to be so great. You absolutely have to introduce me to her, I'll do anything!"

"Whoa, Hermione what's the big deal? She's just a witch." Ron remarked, looking at her as if she were mad.

"No, she's not just some witch." Hermione insisted, "She's one of the smartest witches, that's probably ever lived." At this statement, everyone at the table stared at her, she had definitely gone mad, Hermione would never admit there was a witch, wizard, or muggle that was smarter than her.

"Then please explain what's so amazing about her 'Mione." Fred replied, his interest captured.

"Well, she's from America, if you can even believe it," she started.

"That explains her accent then, I'd never heard anything like it before." George commented. Hermione shot him a look for interrupting her.

"Yes, she's from a Southern state, so her accent is very different than most Americans. But from what I've read, she grew up on a farm, her dad is a muggle and her mom was a witch, she died when Emily was barely a teenager. She went to Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the states, and had graduated by the time she was 15. Since she wasn't of age yet, she went back to live with her dad, and turned his small farm into a billion dollar, muggle money in America," she explained at everyone's confused looks at the word dollar, "and know it services all of North America, Tyson Food Group. All the while, going to a muggle University. When she was 17, the IWC offered her an internship, which is crazy because the IWC is mainly older wizards that are ever invited to join. She was the one who went to South America, when their economy crashed, she fixed the problems in both the Wizarding and Muggle communities there. She's been doing work all over the world fixing problems. She speaks 6 languages, she's absolutely amazing, and she's just Percy's age." Hermione finished her rant completely awe-struck.

"Wow…" Fred whispered to himself.

"Well the IWC, must really be impressed with what you have done so far and want you back up on your feet quickly," Percy told them. "They wouldn't have Emily Tyson on your case if they didn't think you could do it. You both need to really listen to what she tells you, don't bollocks this up, you won't get another chance like this again."

Fred just nodded and the side conversations seemed to come alive again, he glanced over at George and saw him watching him. While he didn't know why he had survived the battle, especially when he was so sure it was his time. He knew he wouldn't ruin this for George, he owed him that much, he would make sure this shop survived for George. He also had to admit he would be bloody happy to see Emily again.

Wednesday morning, an owl was pecking on this door of WWW. George opened the door it flew in quickly, offered its leg so he could remove the note and quickly flew out again.

 ** _I will be stopping by today around lunch time, so we can discuss your plans. Tyson_**

"Hey Freddie! Looks like we are going to have a lunch guest today." George called up the stairs that lead to the flat they lived in above the shop.

Fred ascended the stairs, "what are you talking about, mate?" he asked, his hair still wet, were he had just gotten out of the shower. George handed him the note, he read it quickly. He looked up at George with a smile on his face.

'Wow, Freddie is actually smiling' George thought to himself, it was not something that he or anyone else had seen in a month. He finally felt as though his brother was back. They went back to work, clearing out the old merchandise, as some of the candies could not stay on the shelf for long amounts of time, without some terrible side-effects.

Before long, it was noontime and the door chimed. Fred turned as she walked in the door, he took in her extremely long hair, it was almost to her waist, honey blonde waves cascading down her back. She was dressed a black sleeveless blouse tucked into black high-waist slacks, she was holding a large grey briefcase bag. She smiled at Fred as she walked towards him.

"Hello, Mr. Weasley, I trust you received my owl this morning?" she questioned him, he looked at her gorgeous face, those pale green eyes were framed with long black lashes, and really stood out against her brown and coral glasses. She was rather tall, how had he not noticed that before?

"Yes, we did, let me just run and get George." He turned from her walking into the backroom.

As he left, Emily let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. 'Why is he effecting me like this?' She wondered about the shop, thinking about how much her Pops would have loved this place, magic aside. 'You need to stop being so ridiculous' she scolded herself, 'you need to get it together, it's been a month, you need to pull yourself up by your boot straps and do this for Pops.'

"So what can we do for you today, Mrs. Tyson?" She turned and saw the Weasley twins standing side by side, looking at her with great interest.

"It's actually Ms. Tyson but please call me Emily, I was wondering if ya'll would like to accompany me to lunch? I thought we could talk more about the shop and plans and so forth." She drawled in her sweet Southern accent, which was so different from anything they had ever heard.

"It would be our pleasure!" They exclaimed at the same time, and she couldn't help but laugh.

They went into Muggle London and found a quiet pub to eat lunch and talk. They ordered their drinks and lunch.

"Gentlemen, I know we didn't have a lot of time to talk yesterday, so I'm hoping we can make the most of this lunch." She told them. "But first, I would like to know if you are even interested in continuing with your shop? I have an investor who would is extremely interested in buying you out. But if you would like to continue with the shop, I'm going to try my hardest to help you get back up and running."

"Well, I know I would like to keep going with the shop," George explained, "I don't think I can speak for Fred on this though." He looked at his twin, this was the first time, he didn't know what he was thinking, and that was quite frightening.

"Well, I bloody don't plan on giving up our dream," Fred exclaimed looking at his twin. The glint was back in Fred's eyes and George could tell he was ready to create some mayhem once again.

"Well then boys, let's get down to business." Emily said with large smile. "What do we say to round of shots, to celebrate?" giving the boys a wink, but looking right at Fred.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

After lunch they headed back to store, where Emily transfigured an empty display table into a conference table with 3 chairs. She waved to the chairs opposite of her, while she took her seat. She sent her wand on the table next to her briefcase, that she opened and pulled out some parchment and a quill.

"Well, we have a few different options that we can discuss first," the vibrant witch in front of them was all business now. She adjusted her glasses and Fred noticed all of the rings that adorned her fingers, but mostly catching his attention was the large pearl on her right middle finger. "We have inventory, expansion, the prospect of a new line, pricing… So just let me know where you want to begin."

"You know, we're probably going to be spending a lot of time with each other, over the next few months, so I think we should get to know each other a little first."

"Yeah," Fred jumped in, "It's been just George and I for a while and we know everything about each other"

"You see, so we think we should know about you."

"And of course, we'll be happy to answer any questions you have about us." Fred finished for them.

"What's the chance of ya'll forgetting about this and us getting back to work?" She asked looking at the boys.

"With that accent, love, not a bloody chance." Fred gave her his biggest over the top smile.

"Well fine then, what would you like to know? But be aware we will be having some sort of business discussion today." She arched her eyebrows, but blushed when Fred had called her love, what was with her today?

"Well, I guess we'll start with something easy first, what was your life like when you were little?" George asked.

"Umm, well I grew up on a farm in America, which I'm sure you already guessed from the accent, in Georgia, it's a Southern state, which means it's always hotter than the devil's armpit," she got a look like she had three heads, "it's a Southern saying… Anyway, my mom was a witch and my dad was a Muggle, but they still loved each other completely, the kind of love that makes you wish you could fall in love like that," she sighed.

"So it's just you and your parents?"

"No, I have an adapted sister Ruby, she's two years younger than me, and she's absolutely amazing. Mama and Pops got brought her home when I was 4, I know we aren't biologically sisters, but I don't have any memories without her. And as for my Mama she passed when I was 13 and my Pops passed about 2 months ago." She had tears in her eyes now, but she refused to let them fall, she didn't cry in front of people.

"Hey," Fred reached across the table to touch her hand, "We don't have to keep going, it's ok," he was so sincere looking at her, those deep blue eyes staring into her, giving her a small smile.

"No, it's fine, what else do you want to know?" She lifted her chin and looked at them square in the eye. Fred gave her hand a small squeeze before letting it go.

"I'm going to guess you went to school in America then?"

"Yeah, I went to Ilvermorny, it's in Massachusetts, when I was 11." She told them, but what she didn't say was how awful all of the students were to her, she was much too smart and all they did was make fun of her for the 4 years she was there, she had no friends, no one to turn too. She was so happy when the Head Mistress, Professor Miller, told her she was going to be able to leave Ilvermorny early, because she was so advanced. However, this meant leaving at 15 and she would have to live in the Muggle world with no magic for two years until she was of wizarding age. She gladly accepted, she was so happy to be rid of the place she didn't care if it meant she couldn't do magic for those few years.

George and Fred could tell she didn't want to talk about her schooling anymore.

"What can we tell you about us?" George looked at his twin.

"We naturally just loved getting into trouble and pulling pranks on our siblings, but especially Mum,"

"She always has the best reactions."

"But we went to Hogwarts, we were the class clowns, and our sixth year" George started laughing at the memory.

"We pulled the most epic prank of all time, there was this bloody horrible ministry witch, who took over the school, well she definitely won't forget Fred and George Weasley anytime soon."

"So that's what made you want to open a joke shop?" Emily asked, getting more comfortable in with the twins.

"Yeah, we had been experimenting with a lot of different ideas, and since Georgie here is an expert at Charms, we started selling some of our stuff to the other students to help them get out of class,"

"It was more of a public service really. But our friend Harry gave us the start-up money and we've been in business ever since."

"Can't really imagine doing anything else."

They talked about the early days of the twins and all their ideas and then they moved onto the war. Before they knew it, it was 6 at night.

"Oh bloody hell!" George groaned. "I'm supposed to meet Alicia for dinner in 30 minutes, I have to go!" He jumped up from the table, patted Fred on the back and gave Emily a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you tomorrow, yeah?"

She nodded and smiled as he scrambled upstairs to change and apparate to Angelina's flat as quickly as possible.

"Well it's getting late, and I'm sure you have dinner plans as well," Emily stood and started shuffling all of her papers back into her briefcase, "But tomorrow, we definitely have to talk about work." She walked over to Fred, gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked out into the warm June evening.

Fred stood, unable to move, had she really just kissed him? He put his hand to his cheek and smiled. 'Yes, this was definitely a good idea.' He smiled at himself, as he locked up the store and went upstairs to floo back to the burrow for dinner with his family.

The crowd at dinner was much smaller tonight, than it was the previous night. With only his parents, Ginny and Harry, and Ron and Hermione. The small from Emily's kiss would not leave his mind, he spent all of supper smiling and avoiding the questioning stares from his family. Surely it hadn't been that long since they had seen him smile? They were all nutters.

"Oh, Fred dear, I wanted to know if you and George had thought anymore about that witch from the IWC helping with the store?" Molly asked him.

"Yeah, we decided that we are going to let her help us, we think it'll allow us to work on the merchandise more, while she works on the business part of things." Fred answered his mother, "Emily seems certain we should be able to re-open around the time students start their back-to-school shopping for Hogwarts, and you know we'd hate to let McGonagall down, I'm sure she's expecting lots of Weasley products causing trouble at Hogwarts again." He smiled brightly, Molly could hardly believe it, it was like her old Freddie was back.

"Well you must invite her to supper Friday night, the whole family will be here. Even Andromeda and Teddy are going to be here. I think it's a lovely idea."

"Oh yes yes yes. You have to invite her Fred, please, she's practically my hero." Hermione begged.

"Ok. Ok. You are all nutty, but I'll ask her tomorrow." Fred looked at the table, what would she think of his crazy family?

They had definitely made some serious head way in terms of what they wanted to do long term, come Friday. Emily was absolutely as brilliant as Hermione said she was; they didn't understand why they doubted her in the first place. Thursday she looked over all of their business records, which were practically non-existent, but she noticed they were much more worried about the products for the customers and kept the bare minimums in terms of financial records, or rather any records. She placed a charm on the register and it clearly printed every transaction they had ever done, it gave her totals and percentages, and a bunch of other rubbish the twins didn't understand.

"I'm glad we've decided on the products and a smaller new line, to help kick things into gear, while you both have been doing exceptionally well. However, your savings are slowly dwindling and unfortunately we'll have to look into some options for financing…" Emily looked up from her make shift desk that still set in the middle of shop.

The twins were smiling at her. "Yes, I think we're doing great. I'm very excited about our re-opening." George said. She was slowly learning the difference between the two of them, and was able to tell them apart about 90% of the time now. Fred had these deep blue eyes that were like the depths of the ocean, while George's were a little lighter, just subtly so, but she could tell the difference now. George also kept his hair longer, to where it brushed his shoulders and Fred's was maybe an inch shorter.

"I hope you're ready for dinner tonight, we're going to have to leave soon." Fred told her as he moved the last box of Boxing Telescopes to the shelf they would reside.

"Oh my gracious, I can't believe I forgot about that!" Emily looked down at her denim jeans and her gray University of Georgia t-shirt. "I'm not dressed properly to have dinner and especially not to meet your family! They won't believe I'm a business woman. Maybe we should just reschedule for a night when I can put my best foot forward." She stumbled about, trying to shuffle her papers into her bag so she could head back to her flat quickly.

"Sorry love, but we aren't going to let you get out of this dinner." Fred said coming around her desk.

"Yeah, come on, I'm excited for you to meet Alicia, Mum is ready to sing your praises for helping us."

"Don't forget Hermione, George. You're practically her idol, she's never, not once, every admitted that anyone was smarter than her." Fred finished. Emily was running her hand over her long hair, nervously twirling a large piece in the front and Fred noticed about five earrings up and down her right ear.

"But I'm just in jeans and a t-shirt! You don't understand, where I'm from you don't make first impressions in jeans and a t-shirt! You have to be in your Sunday best!" Now she was fidgeting with her rings, it seemed she couldn't decide which one to mess with, she kept switching back and forth between them all about 6 total.

"Trust me, everyone is going to be dressed casually, we don't dress up really. Plus, Dad will love your Muggle t-shirt, he's obsessed with anything Muggle." She pushed her glasses up on her nose and waved her wand at her case, George assumed it was to send it back to her flat.

"Fine, let's go before I change my mind. Are we appartaing or using the floo network?" She inquired while putting her wand into the slot on her jeans.

"We're going to apparate, since you've never been before you'll have to side-apparate with one of us, so you don't get lost." George told her, while flicking his wand at the front door to lock it. He turned and winked at Fred before he was gone with a loud crack.

"It's ok, they are going to love you," Fred held out his arm for her. She hesitated for a moment before finally placing her hand on his arm. He put his right hand over hers and she felt sick to her stomach, but she didn't know if it was from nerves or appartaing.

They arrived at the Burrow and George was standing off to the side snogging Alicia, "Hey you two, get a room!" Fred yelled at them.

"Sod off Fred!" Alicia shouted back, before returning to kiss George again.

"That's Alicia," Fred explained to Emily while they made their way up the steps to the house.

"Well I'd sure hope so, or George has got some explaining to do." Emily tried to force a smile, but it was difficult, she was just too nervous.

Fred put his hand on the small of her back, "Welcome to the mad house" He whispered into her ear, before opening the door.

"Oh Fred! I'm so glad you made it! And you must be Emily! I'm so excited you agreed to join us for dinner tonight," the older witch enveloped her in a tight hug.

"Mum. MUM! You're crushing her, let the poor woman go,"

"Oh I'm sorry dear, I'm Molly, the twins mother"

"You have such a lovely home Mrs. Weasley, you can definitely tell it's filled with love." Emily told her, taking in her surroundings.

"Thank you dear, well everyone else should be arriving any minute, I've got to go check on dinner, please make yourself comfortable. Fred, can you get Ginny and Ron down here, supper's almost ready." With that she walked off, in the direction Emily assumed was the kitchen.

"She's a little mad sometimes."

"She's wonderful, she reminds me a lot of my Mama." She had a wistful little smile playing on her lips.

"Well then let's meet the rest of the bunch shall we?" Fred took her hand and lead her to the dining room table. He walked over the to the bottom of the staircase "Hey you lot! Get down here it's almost time for dinner."

"We're coming! Keep your ears on!" Someone shouted from above.

Just then the fire place was ablaze with green flames and another red-headed man stepped through, seconds later a gorgeous blonde followed him.

"Emily, I would like you to meet my oldest brother Bill and his wife Fleur." Emily stood from the table as Fred introduced them and shook their hands.

"So, you're this brilliant witch, who's supposed to turn the store into something great again?" Bill questioned after shaking her hand.

"Umm..." Emily blushed and looked down pushing her hair behind her ears to reveal her piercings, "I'm not sure about the brilliant part, but I'm definitely trying my hardest to help Fred and George." She smiled up at Fred.

"Well, I teeenk it's greeeat whaat you are doooing" Fleur told her with a grin.

"Fleur is originally from France, she moved over here to work at Gringott's to help with her English. That's where we met," Bill explained to her, "The English is getting better, but I think the rest of us are just used to the accent by now." He kissed his wife on the top of her head.

"Je pense qu'il est grand vous êtes venu de France, j'ai essayé de trouver une raison pour y visiter bientôt." Emily told Fleur in perfect French, before long they were having an entire conversation that no one else could understand.

Fred stood there amazed, Bill looked between the two ladies and shook his head. By the time the rest of the family had arrived or made their way down stairs, Emily and Fleur were talking so fast, there was no way to get a word in to stop them. Finally, Molly came out and announced that dinner was ready, and that ended the conversation. Emily looked up and was immediately aware of all the eyes that were glued to her. She blushed again, a deep red coloring her fair skins and ducked her head down.

The food was floating to the table. "Did no one hear that dinner was ready?" Molly asked coming into the living to gather the troops. They quickly filed into the kitchen and took their seats. Emily took the seat between Fred and George, she could still feel all of the eyes on her so she kept her head down. When the food was all finally on the table, everyone began to fill their plates and George started making introductions.

He pointed out their sister first and went around the table, there was only one girl left in the center of the table right across from her. "That's Hermione, she's Ron's girlfriend and we're pretty sure she worships you." George winked at Hermione, who blushed deeply.

"Oh George, just you wait, I'm going to get you back for that." She told him and everyone at the table erupted into laughter.

"Oh please, Hermione you couldn't pull a prank if your life depended on it." Ron said in between laughs. She smacked him hard on the arm.

"It's alright, I'll help" Emily smiled at her, "Just let me know when and we'll come up with something." Hermione blushed again and stared at her in fascination.

"You pull pranks? I never would have thought…" Her voice faded away as if she was contemplating something.

"Yeah, my Pops was always pulling pranks on us, when I was little. I realized I would have much more fun being on the other side of things and started to scheme with him."

The conversation ebbed and flowed throughout the night, the Weasley family asking her a bunch of questions. While it felt as though it was the Spanish Inquisition, she was starting to relax and didn't get the impression she was an outsider anymore. Soon dinner was over and various members said goodnight and made their way back home.

"Ok, I'm sorry, I'm going to be extremely forward," Hermione announced, looking Emily in the eye, "but can we please talk about you? I've read and heard so much about you and I'm extremely curious."

"Well, I guess…" Emily looked extremely nervous, she started pushing her hair behind her ear again, "Ask away."

That was all the acknowledgement Hermione needed. She asked about her finishing school early and going to muggle university and her family and her early life and the list was endless. She had hardly taken a break between questions and sucked in a deep breath when she finally stopped.

"Whoa, hold your horses there," Emily held her hands up, everyone looked at her puzzled. "It's a Southern expression, it means just slow down for a second. What do you want to know first?"

"I guess I'm most interested about your school time, I was rather advanced in academia as well, and I'm curious if you had as rough of a time as I did?" Hermione glanced at Ron who was smiling brightly at her.

"Well I got my acceptance letter to Ilvermorny, when I was 11. My Mama was ecstatic. I was sorted into Horned Serpent, and chose my wand. Before Christmas, I had read almost all of the books memorized and I practiced non-stop. I quickly advanced through my classes and was in second year classes after I returned from winter break. Then my mom passed when I was thirteen, I was already in fifth year classes and I worked harder to finish as quickly as possible so I could get back to my dad and little sister. I was fifteen when they decided I was technically complete with my schooling, and my head mistress gave me the option to continue schooling or return to my muggle family, but not use magic again until I was 17. I handed over my wand. I loved school, but I was ready to get back to my family. I didn't exactly have any friends so it really wasn't a hard decision for me to make…" She looked up at Hermione and gave her a small smile, "does that answer your question?"

"Yes, I know what you mean, I wasn't THAT advanced, but I was the insufferable know-it-all, with no friends." Hermione told her.

"Oh no, sweetheart, it's very obvious you had great friends" she drawled, glancing between Ron and Harry, "well anymore questions?"

Hermione asked her a million questions, Harry and Ginny had long since went to bed, Fred was struggling to keep his eyes open and act like he was still paying attention. Ron had starting snoring, where he fell asleep in his chair and the ladies decided it was time for bed. Hermione gave Emily a quick hug before getting Ron up out of his seat to head upstairs.

Fred gave her a sleepy smile, "Fun night, yeah?"

"Actually, yes. I had a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting me and forcing me to come." She leaned back against the couch and realized she was suddenly exhausted. Fred's arm went around her. "Hey, sleepy, it's time to go home." She stood up, grabbed his hands, and hauled him up.

He was just barely standing, still half asleep, he leaned into her. "Mmm, you smell really nice, like sunshine and daisies," he nuzzled his nose into her hair.

"Oh darling, why don't you say these things when you're not half asleep?" Emily put her arms around his waist and walked him to the front door. Quietly shutting the door behind them, she led them into the yard a little ways and with a loud crack, they were in her flat.

She'd never had a boy in her apartment before and wasn't really sure what to do. Unfortunately, she hadn't really gotten around to furniture shopping yet, she never expected she would have any company. With a loud sigh, she managed to get Fred into her room and settled him into bed. She took off his shoes, because she would be damned if anyone thought they would be putting their dirty shoes into her bed. She rushed into her bathroom, splashed cold water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. She was not this girl, she didn't have people over, she didn't do the whole "friends" thing, she sure as hell had never had a boy in her bed before.

"No, you are not going to sit in here all night," She scolded herself in the mirror. "You are a grown woman not some 15-year-old girl with a school yard crush." She changed into her black sleeping tank top and her pale pink short shorts, and stalked into her room and climbed into bed before she could change her mind. With a flick of her wand she shut out the lights and laid back against her pillows.

She had almost fallen asleep, when she felt Fred turn, and soon his large arm was thrown over her and she was being pulled into him. She twisted herself to face him. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, she gently reached up and touched his cheek, his skin was so soft. She ran her fingers through his long hair, she had only been waiting to do that since the first time she walked into the store. She let her hand fall and ran her fingers along his muscular arms.

Just as she reached his hand, he started screaming and thrashing around.

"FRED!" she screamed shaking him. "WAKE UP!"

He shot up in bed, sweating heavily. He looked around the room not noticing anything about the room he was in.

"Hey, you ok?" Emily's voice was soft and sweet, like she was approaching a scared animal. She gingerly placed her hand over his. She could feel his heart pounding wildly. Her right hand reached up to push away his hair where it had fallen into his eyes.

"Is this a dream?" He asked shakily, looking into her worried eyes.

"No, sweetie, it's not a dream. You passed out on me at your folks place, so I brought you here. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get into your apartment or not… Just wait a minute I'm going to go get you a glass of water."

She was back quickly, handed Fred a large glass of water as she settled into the bed again. Grabbing her wand from the nightstand, she mumbled a few words and with a swift flick, the room was bathed in a dim light, like a 1,000 candles were lighting the room.

Fred took a long drink of the ice cold water and handed the glass to Emily, who set it on the nightstand. "I'm sorry if I woke you up. I didn't mean to." Fred was clearly embarrassed.

"Nah, it's ok. I don't really sleep much anyways," She took his hand again, "you want to talk about it?"

She looked so sincere and concerned for him how was Fred supposed to say no? His eyes went to their hands; he took a depth breath before he began.

"You know about the war right?" She nodded slowly, "well near the end, George and I were fighting off the Death Eaters and one of them cast a curse that was aimed at me, but I got out of the way just in time. It went over my head and hit the wall behind me, and the whole wall collapsed on me. I thought I was dead, I remember seeing this bright white light, I know how cliché that sounds. But I honestly thought I was dead, I couldn't hear anything, couldn't open my eyes or anything. The only thing I could do was think and I thought George was going to end up the same way. I just kept screaming and crying, well after what felt like hours, I was able to open my eyes and I saw George over me. I started to cry and scream about how we couldn't both be dead. It was horrible, now I have nightmares. I'm so sorry again for waking you."

She pulled him into her, his head settled in her chest. "It's more than ok, sweetie, you shouldn't feel bad about it, at all." She was rubbing her hand up and down his back. All Fred could think was if this is how he woke up to nightmares, maybe they wouldn't be so bad.

 **A/N - This is my attempt at writing a story. I highly encourage any and all feedback! Thank you so much for reading, I really hope ya'll like it!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

"This is nice, yeah?" Fred asked her.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are having the time of your life right now," Emily said laughing when he snuggled in closer to her breasts.

"Ok, fine," he pulled away slightly and noticed the tattoos that she had. He saw the loping script across her left collarbone and the tip of what he thought was a triangle nestled at the base of her breasts.

He ran is finger across the one on her collarbone, leaning in to read it. "Be kind and have courage" it stated.

"That is for my parents. Mama would always tell me to be kind to everyone I meet and Pops told me to have the courage to go after what I want."

"I think it's a great way for you to remember them by."

"Do you want to see my others?" Emily asked, happy the fear she had seen in his eyes after the nightmare was gone.

He nodded his head, "yes please."

"Well there's this one, and a few others." She lifted the hem of her shirt up to where it was only covering her nipples and up. She then pointed underneath her right breast. "This one I got when I left Ilvermorny, 'She's mad but she's magic there is no lie in her fire' it's from one of my favorite Muggle poets, I thought it was appropriate." She winked at him then. "And this one is the Deathly Hallows symbol" she traced the triangle that Fred had noticed earlier. "This one too," she shifted so she could show him her left rib cage. The horse was amazing it was rearing up, it's mane all wild, head thrown back.

"They are all great," he smiled at her.

A grin lit up her face. "But wait, there's more!" She exclaimed excitedly. She dropped her tank top and Fred watched it slide down her flat stomach and cover her curves.

She lifted up her hair to show him the feather that was behind her left ear. She shifted in bed so her back was to him and lifted her shirt once again, this time all the way up to her neck. Fred saw the neat, blocked letters that ran down her spine. "This is my newest one, I got it with my sister right before I left to come to London, someone had written in graffiti in Atlanta and we fell in love with the saying." She turned her head to smile at him "She is beautiful and terrifying at the same time like nature itself," she repeated.

He ran his fingers down it as she recited each word, causing her to shiver.

Her shirt fell again and she turned around to be facing him again.

"Well that's it," she told him, "well unless you want to count all the piercings in my right ear, but I think you already saw those at dinner."

"You're so beautiful" Fred told her simply, as if it's something she should have just known. He put his hand and her cheek and skimmed his thumb down her nose and across her lips.

"Fred," she whispered nervously, "I'm not good with this kind of stuff, you'd be better off with another girl, who knows how to do the boy-girl thing."

"But, love" he leaned in closer, "I want you." He lifted her head to meet his eyes.

"I can't do this though; I don't know how to." She sucked in a breath, he was only inches from her face.

"All that matters is that you want to. Do you want to?"

"Of course, I do. But…" She was cut off by Fred's lips meeting hers. She was stunned, never in her life had a boy kissed her before, what was she supposed to do now?

Then Fred was pulling away and she thought her inexperience messed everything up, but she saw his smile. He just got to kiss the girl he had been dreaming about since he'd met her and he was staring into those pale green eyes that he adored.

She reached up to push his hair away from his eyes, where it had fallen, and looked into his deep blue depths, she loved his eyes, they reminded her of the ocean.

Then, she was leaning in again, crushing her lips to his, tangling her fingers in his hair. This was the most amazing feeling, she suddenly understood why George and Alicia did it all through-out dinner.

A small moan escaped from her lips and Fred pushed his tongue against hers. She tasted amazing and Fred was infinitely happy that this was her first kiss. She matched his tongue stroke for stroke.

They finally pulled away, breathing heavily.

Emily fell back against the pillows. "Is this what kissing is always like? I should have started doing this years ago."

Fred laughed as he laid back against his pillows, "It's what kissing me is like, those other blokes won't be able to do it for you." He smiled at her.

"Darling, I wouldn't doubt it," she gave him a wink, "but it's time for bed now, it's past 2!" She lifted her wand and extinguished the lights.

"Goodnight, love" he kissed the top of head.

"Sweet dreams" she told him, flipping over to lay on her left side.

He put his arm across her waist and pulled her into him. "Much better," he mumbled before falling asleep.

She laid awake, eyes open, and huge smile on her face, thinking about the events that had just taken place. She wouldn't be her without over-analyzing everything. Not only had she gotten her first kiss, and second, she had shown someone her tattoos. She had never done that, the only person to see them was her sister, Ruby, and that was because Ruby was always there when she got them done. Today was a definitely a good day, she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and exhaustion overcame her.

The rest of the weekend was a blur for Emily. Fred had left early Saturday morning, after she made him a large American breakfast. Emily quickly packed a bag and flooed back to the family farm, she needed to talk to Ruby about this and a simple phone call would not work. Emily put her bag in her room and went out to the barn to find her sister.

She inhaled deeply, the smell of hay filling her. "Hey, I didn't expect to see you back so soon," Ruby hollered from a stall where she was brushing down her large mare.

"Yeah well maybe I just missed you,"

"Well I need to exercise Magnolia here, so I was thinking a run to back paddock. I'm sure Tahoe back there misses his mama."

Emily went to Tahoe's stall and immediately felt at peace. "Hey buddy, what do you say to a run?" Tahoe threw his head back and whinnied loudly. "I'm going to take that as a yes," she giggled as he rubbed his head up and down the front of her. "I missed ya too, bud."

Once the horses were tacked, they raced out of the barn, giving the horses their head and just enjoying the ride. They reached the back paddock and let the horses roam around for a while. Emily transfigured a blanket for them and they laid back and looked up at the clouds.

"So you want to tell me what this visit is really about?" Ruby asked, looking at her sister with questioning eyes, "You haven't been around much lately, especially not since Pop."

Emily let out a long sigh, "I miss him so much and I just don't know how to function anymore. I know I'm only 23 but I still feel like an orphan, you know? They aren't here to see us get married or have children or any of it and it's just so damn unfair." she cried, "I've spent the last 2 months just wandering around, I abandoned my baby sister for goodness sake, and now I've taken a job working at a fucking joke shop of all places. I thought it would help me to remember the good stuff, the pranks we used to pull on you and mama, but it just really sucks. I'm happy while I'm working and hearing Fred and George creating their new items. When I get home though I'm miserable, I can't eat and I don't even like to read anymore, I just cry and I'm tired of crying." Emily was sobbing now.

Ruby pulled her into a hug. "You didn't abandon me, I needed to stay here, I'm happiest on this farm and you are happiest doing whatever business genius stuff you like to do. You and Pops were very close, it's normal for you to feel this way. But you also have to know that he wouldn't want you to be sad and crying all the time. I think working at a prank shop is a wonderful way for you to remember him."

They rode back to the house and had lunch. Emily told her about the twins and meeting the Weasley family. Sunday was spent lounging around watching movies, until Emily had to return.

"You have to come visit me soon. Alex is more than capable of handling the barn for a week so you can come to London." Emily begged her sister as they walked down to the room with the floo fireplace. "It'll be nice for you to take a break too and I would love for you to meet the twins, and then of course I won't be the only person with an American accent."

"I'll see what I can do." She hugged her sister tightly. "I miss you Em, and I miss that smile, so let's make sure that comes out more often."

"I miss you too, brat"

She stepped into the fireplace and waved at her sister one last time, before being swallowed in emerald flames.

George watched as Fred paced back and forth between the wardrobe and bathroom, picking different shirts, he couldn't help but smirk at his twin.

"Surely I wasn't this much of a wanker when I first started liking Alicia."

"Oh, sod off." Fred threw a shoe at his brother. Why was he so nervous about seeing Emily again? He had already slept with her for Merlin's sake, although not the kind that most people usually associated with "sleeping" with someone.

He was excited at the idea of seeing Emily again this morning, she had spent the weekend in America, with her sister. But now it was Monday morning and he had plans to ask her on a proper date. Fred didn't want to go to fast with Emily, he hadn't felt this way about a girl in his whole life and he wasn't going to mess it up now.

The rest of the week had been a rush and Fred had butterflies in his stomach. He had asked Emily on a proper date Monday morning and it was all he was able to think about now.

"Good morning Emily!" He hollered has she walked through the door. Fred had thought she looked fantastic, she had a huge smile on her face.

"Morning Fred. How was the rest of your weekend?"

"Good, do you want to go out with me Saturday night? I would say Friday, but mum and Hermione really want you at family dinner if that's alright with you. I'm sure mum has already set a permanent place for you. But it's still your decision if you want to come or not." He could tell he was rambling like a lunatic but he couldn't seem to make himself stop.

Emily held her hand up. "First, I would love to go out with you Saturday night, on a real date. Second, I will be present for family dinner."

Family dinner had passed and Hermione had kept her inquisition to herself. Now it was Saturday afternoon and Fred was getting advice from the rest of the Weasley boys on how a first date should be.

Emily however was a wreck. She didn't have anything to wear, a common problem with girls before any type of outing. She stared at her over-flowing closet and wanted to scream in frustration, she needed her mom.

She was tear-streaked when she finally lifted her head from her knees. Her mom wouldn't want her to do this, she wouldn't approve of Emily giving up.

"I can do this." Emily told herself as she stood and made her way into the bathroom.

She looked God-awful. Mascara was stained down her face and her hair, she didn't even want to look at her hair. Her watch said there was still an hour and a half before Fred was due to pick her up. A hot shower was exactly what the doctor ordered.

After her shower, she went back to the daunting closet. She pulled on a dark wash pair of skinny jeans and a lavender sleeveless blouse. She tucked the blouse in and added a small black belt and her pale gray heeled booties.

Standing in front of her floor-length mirror, she took herself in. Her hair was hanging pin-straight down her back, almost touching her hips, and her make-up was light and carefree. Even her glasses seemed to sparkle a little more. She could feel her mom standing there, feel her tucking her hair back behind her ear, her earrings gleaming in the overhead light.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart, I'm so proud of you." Mama Tyson kissed her daughter's head, and faded from vision as someone knocked on the door.


End file.
